Dance in the Winter Palace
by Dragon with two hearts
Summary: Just a sweet one-shot based on a picture. RussLiet. Poland and General Winter are mentioned, but not really essential to the story.


Dance

=0=0=0=

Autumn wind whipped its way around Russia's home in Moscow, sneaking through small cracks in the old walls and chilling the entire place. Lithuania shivered, pulling a heavy sweater tighter over his shoulders as he went about the house, noting every area with a draft. He had been doing this for the better part of two hours, and was nearly finished, save the kitchen and Russia's bedroom. It was approaching six o'clock, and Russia had yet to show himself around the house since his arrival at three. Lithuania walked to his door and prepared to knock when he heard a very gruff voice speaking.

"When are you planning on doing this?" The gruff voice spoke slow and commanding, but with a snarky undertone. Russia's teacher, General Winter.

"I was planning on asking Pol'sha about several things beforehand, but he is going to leave soon, so there is no time left."

"What would Russia want with Poland?" Lithuania whispered to himself, leaning away from the door. General Winter began talking again, but the nation had already walked too far away. "Why Poland? What has he done to everyone to get on their bad sides?" Lithuania began pulling several pans from various cupboards, habit overriding worry. It took him another half hour to cook dinner, but Russia never did show up. The uneaten food was placed in the fridge; Lithuania washed the used dishes and headed off to his own room, a regularly used guest room. "Perhaps it's for the best that I'm leaving in a few days, I can go and check on Poland and finally be away from scary Mister Russia." The end of the sentence was whispered.

The whisper was also accompanied by a memory, of when the nations were constantly fighting each other, and the Golden Horde ran most of Asia. _Lithuania tromped through the heavy snow, eyes on his little pet dog running ahead. The very fluffy creature ran easily through the white powder, yipping happily. Suddenly, it stopped, and began growling at something-it looked like an oddly shaped tree stump from a distance-standing in the snow. As Lithuania approached, the clearer shape of a small boy in a ragged overcoat and pink scarf made itself known. The dog hadn't stopped barking._

"_Shush Purus. Excuse me, what are you doing out here little boy?"_

_The child opened his eyes, a purple glimmer with a smile to match. "Pr-privyet."If anything, Prurush barked louder._

"_What are you doing here? You freeze if you stay in the snow-"_

"_Your dog is very cute." _

"_Ah, I apologize, he's usually much better behaved than this." Lithuania shushed the dog again, and it stopped barking with a whimper. "Excuse me, but are you a country as well?"_

"Da," The child closed his eyes and clutched tightly at the scarf, "But I am under the Tartar's rule, and it's very difficult to get by every day. But I know one day I'll become a big country! When that happens, you'll become my friend, right?"

"If that's what you want, we can be friends now-"

"Nyet! I still lack power, but I promise to work hard to earn it, to protect any of my friends!" In a flash of snow, the boy whipped around, running into the trees that grew through the harsh winters. "Da svedaniya!" The wind picked up, throwing a screen of snow between the two nations, and by the time it calmed, the boy had disappeared.

At the time, Lithuania had had no clue who he had been talking to, but after nearly fifty years of serving under his rule, the name Russia was incredibly hard to forget. And even after declaring his independence in 1990, he still came back and tidied up Russia's house, whether the nation knew it or not. It was not merely force of habit; Lithuania had developed a small crush on Russia during his servitude, but kept it a secret from everyone.

It was very late when he finally got into his bedclothes and settled down in his room to sleep, and he nodded off almost instantly.

The soft creaking of the door was not heard that night, except by the two tall figures that snuck in and out, nor the engine of the car starting up and driving northeast.

~O~O~O~

The sun was high in the sky, but only weakly shining through thick snow clouds the next morning. The temperature also seemed to have dropped by a good twenty degrees. Lithuania shivered and pulled the bedsheets tighter around him, listening to the sound of traffic outside.

Traffic outside…Lithuania's eyes shot open. "Wha- Where am I?" It wasn't his room, certainly. In fact, it looked like a well-decorated hotel room. The bed, designed for two had only been rumpled up on one side (his) and there were no signs of any outside assistance helping him get to the room.

Scratch that, there was a folded up piece of paper on the other side of the bed. Lithuania unfolded it: Head to the Winter Palace. Concise Cyrillic letters were the only marks on the page.

"The Winter Palace is all the way in St. Petersburg, whoever wants me to do this is crazy." The nation by this time had gotten out of the bed; exploring the room he woke up in. It was a hotel room, and despite the sheer creepiness of it, he was glad to find his various toiletries on the counter in the bathroom.

Wandering around while brushing his teeth, Lithuania glanced out the window and nearly spit toothpaste at the wall. Sparkling in the near distance was tall Alexander tower, the location of the Winter Palace.

"Well, that solves one problem."

~O~O~O~

Lithuania walked determinedly to the palace, stopping only once to get a hot chocolate. He walked up the steps at the entrance of the building, noticing a familiar shade of pink fluttering in the breeze of people passing in and out of the building. Lithuania walked up to the taller nation, chatting amiably with a guard posted at the entrance. The man stood at complete attention when the brunette arrived, alerting Russia to his presence.

"Ahh, Toris. You got my note?" Right. Human names were to be used in the vicinity of anyone not privy to the nations' secret. (There were other reasons to use human names, but they were never very common occurrences) "Excuse us. Thank you for the conversation."

Russia led Lithuania inside the building, where it was quieter and warmer. There were still several people around, so the unusual couple went to one of the blocked off rooms.

"Russia, what are you playing at? Why did you want me to come here?" Lithuania's voice was tinged with anger, but was mostly exasperated. He felt a bit guilty when Russia's face fell, resolving to keep his stress in check.

"I wanted to know if you'd like to dance with me."

"And we couldn't do this in Moscow because…?" The sentence was left hanging.

"Well, I kind of wanted to dance in an actual ballroom with you."

"Alone?"

Russia made a sound of affirmation, beginning to walk towards a different door. He pushed it open, revealing a large, ornate room. It seemed a bit dusty, but it probably hadn't been used in ages. Lithuania looked at the arched ceiling, before his attention was grabbed by Russia bowing slightly in a silent invitation, which Lithuania gladly accepted.

The dance was slow, and slightly awkward at first, especially with no music in accompaniment, but eventually they got used to it, step-turning in a pleasant waltz. Russia cleared his throat quietly, breaking the heavy silence.

"Lith- Toris? I just want to tell you that I really like you."

Lithuania felt the blush rise in his cheeks. "O-oh?"

"Da, since we met in those woods so long ago. But you've always acted so nervous around me, so I couldn't tell you and risk heartbreak."

"Ivan? It may have happened a little bit after you discovered your feelings, but I've come to realize that I really like you as well." Lithuania pressed himself closer; close enough to hear Russia's heartbeat speed up. He felt his cheeks heat up more. "That's why I was always so nervous around you. I was worried that I'd mess up and screw over my chances of being with you."

"Really? But you seemed so keen to get away in the 90's."

"Ivan, everyone needs their freedoms. But did you notice how I kept coming back afterwards?" He looked up to see tears in Russia's eyes. Bringing up the Fall was painful for him. Lithuania shifted his arms into hugging his friend. "It's okay now, don't cry."

That seemed to be the trigger, as Russia broke down into silent sobs, falling to his knees on the floor. Lithuania knelt beside him, running soothing fingers through his hair.

"I'm glad," he whimpered, "I don't have to be alone anymore." He pulled Lithuania into a hug.

Lithuania kissed his forehead. "No, not anymore."

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**I'm not sure about any of those details about the Winter Palace (like the stairs) I haven't been there since '96 and even then, I was only a year old. I don't remember anything about being in a different country. **

**Also, I should really be updating Dracotalia, but this just wouldn't leave me alone.**

**I have a picture to go with it. (just take out the spaces) dragonshave2hearts. deviantart. com/ art/ Dance-in-the-Winter-Palace-302127324**


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